June Reading Wrap Up

Holy crap it’s the end of June!

I read some books!

These are those books!

Attack on Titan Volume 6 by Hajime Isayama

By this point I really can’t say anything about the plot but if you haven’t heard of Attack on Titan by now, it’s pretty great. This far in I still have to say I prefer the anime just because of the pacing… but this volume was great and things were definitely picking up in this one!

4 stars.

Attack on Titan volume 7 by Hajme Isayama

Again, can’t say anything about plot because spoilers for days but this was another solid volume and I flew through it because it was basically all fight scenes and action and fast-paced goodness.

4 stars.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Yep, we’re still doing this.

5 stars.

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

THIS. BOOK. YO.

Ugh.

I love this duology so much. I want to re-read them at some point together because I honestly think I would have loved Our Dark Duet so much more if I’d read it immediately after This Savage Song. BUT SERIOUSLY. READ THIS THESE BOOKS. THEY’RE BLOODY FANTASTIC. LITERALLY, IT’S BLOODY. SO MUCH BLOOD. AND MONSTERS. AND GREAT CHARACTERS. AND DARKNESS. ALL OF THOSE GOOD THINGS. That’s all I can say without giving away plot points but READ THE FIRST ONE THEN THIS ONE AND EXPERIENCE ALL THE DARKNESS AND DESPAIR FOR YOURSELF. YES. But basically the summary for this duology is that monsters are manifested by the evil deeds of people, ie murders. These monsters then roam the city and hunt people for their blood/soul etc. These books are dark and gritty and wonderful. That’s all you need to know.

4 stars.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

ALRIGHT. MAJOR DISCLAIMER. THERE ARE SOME SERIOUSLY UNPOPULAR OPINIONS ABOUT TO BEING DISCLOSED. I AM IN THE MINORITY HERE. THAT IS OK. WE WILL REBUILD.

I hated this book. I originally tried to rate it 2 stars on Goodreads because I finished it (after skimming the last 50 pages because I just. Didn’t. Care.) and was like ‘it wasn’t that bad… there were some things I liked’… BUT THAT’S NOT TRUE. I COULDN’T THINK OF ANY THINGS I LIKED BECAUSE THERE WERE NO THINGS. So… that’s where we’re at. *shrugs* I just didn’t care about/connect with any characters - I thought Darrow was annoying and I was only mildly interested in Sevro, I didn’t enjoy the writing and the world building and general plot just made me mad/bored me. I understand that many people love this book, however I am not one of them and won’t be continuing with the rest of the series. I also have already gone and spoiled myself on the supposed big plot twist in book 2 to see if I was interested. I was not.

1 star. I’m a monster.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

I re-read this so that I can FINALLY continue with the rest of the series. I read The Bone Season not long after it first came out and absolutely loved it. But by the time The Mime Order came out, I had forgotten a lot of the details and this series is VERY detail heavy. The world, language and characters are complicated and I just lost interest because I didn’t fully understand/remember what was going on.

So I re-read this and loved it just as much as I did the first time. This book is supernatural, fantasy, action and a bunch of other amazing things all at once. We follow Paige who is a clairvoyant living in London where clairvoyance is illegal. She works with what is essentially a criminal gang of other clairvoyants with different skills, and basically gets caught up in something MUCH larger than anything she imagined was going on. I can’t wait to keep reading and see where this series goes because I’ve heard that some serious stuff goes down in the next book and this world is truly one of the most fascinating worlds I’ve ever read about.

5 stars. Again.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

First off I’m gonna mention a content warning for self harm for this book, however if you are concerned it is not mentioned frequently throughout the book, nor is it a major topic of discussion throughout. But I need to mention it.

I’m writing this right after finishing this book and GODDAMMIT LIANE HOW DO YOU WRITE THESE CHARACTERS? They’re so complex and raw and real and I finished this and just sat there wondering what they’re doing with their lives now, which is EXACTLY the same reaction I had after finishing Big Little Lies. My only fault with Truly Madly Guilty was that it just felt too long. It’s definitely one of my favourites (I’ve now read nearly everything she has published), but it dragged during some sections for me. At the same time I feel like if it hadn’t been so long maybe I wouldn’t have felt so connected to the characters but the first half could have been maybe 50 or so pages shorter, in my opinion. Liane Moriarty has this amazing way of writing stories that have so many threads running throughout that all come together in the end (Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty in particular do this so well). I also feel like her books have realistic endings. Not everything is tied up with a neat little bow, but you still finish the book feeling satisfied with how things are resolved. So glad I decided to pick this one up!

4 stars. Maybe 4.5. So good!

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This is now the second children’s/middle grade/young adult? (this one felt more childish than The Ocean at the End of the Lane but honestly Neil Gaiman’s books don’t seem to fit a typical age group category) I’ve read and while it was definitely interesting, I didn’t think it was particularly amazing. It follows the story of a girl called Coraline who goes through a door in her house to find another version of her family, who want her to permanently stay with them instead of her real parents. I enjoyed the writing (I mean it’s Neil Gaiman, his shopping list would probably be poetic and beautiful) but the story just didn’t really hook me in as much as I would have liked.

3 stars. This was good, not great. But also not bad.

So that’s everything I read in June. As of the end of June I have officially read 52 books *self-high-five* My goal for the year is to read 100 so I am on track! Now if I could just get the rest of my life as together as my reading goals that would be great…